


Here There Be Dragons

by thewriterofperfectdisasters



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Fairy Tales, Future Fic, M/M, how the heckie do six year olds talk, i dont know what this is, idk idk idk, mildly ooc speech patterns, utter domesticity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2015-01-23
Packaged: 2018-03-08 18:20:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3218774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewriterofperfectdisasters/pseuds/thewriterofperfectdisasters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘It really hurt Prince Ian, though. Especially when Prince Mickey and the princess – not his sister, the other one – had to get married. So Prince Ian decided he wanted to go and join the knights to fight other dragons, so he left, and Prince Mickey…’<br/>‘Was he sad?’<br/>‘He was really fuckin’ sad, kid. He had never been so sad in his life.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here There Be Dragons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [twelvemorestopsandhome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/twelvemorestopsandhome/gifts).



> okay so i told jo i would write her something for her birthday, and seeing as i gave up on the original idea, i had to come up with something else. 
> 
> anyway, happy birthday jo! may the next year be as awesome as you are ♥

‘Yev, it’s time to sleep,’ Mickey sighed, heaving himself off the couch for the billionth time, and herding his son back towards his bedroom. ‘Bed.’

Yev let out a dramatic _oof_ as he climbed into his bed and collapsed onto his back. ‘But _Daddy_ …’

‘Oh, this’ll be good,’ Mickey muttered, tucking him in tight enough so that he hopefully wouldn’t be able to escape again. ‘What is it?’

‘Daddy Ian always tells me a story before bed,’ Yev explained, flopping his head to the side and raising his eyebrows expectantly. For a six year old, he had more sass in the tip of his smallest toe than some people had in their entire body.

‘Does he now?’ Mickey asked, sitting on the end of the bed. ‘Well, he had to work later, so he’s not here right now.’

‘I know that. Tell me a story, Daddy.’

‘About what?’

Yev shrugged and pulled his toy shark closer to him. ‘I wanna hear a story about Daddy Ian.’

‘ _Ian_?’

‘Yup,’ Yev nodded. ‘He tells me stories about you.’

‘Uhhh…’ Mickey scratched his nose. ‘A’ight. A story about Ian.’

‘Fighting dragons.’

‘Ian fighting dragons.’

‘Yup, and saving the prince,’ Yev grinned innocently at his father. ‘You’re the prince, okay?’

‘Great, sure. I’m the prince, and Ian’s fighting dragons,’ Mickey scooched further onto the bed and leaned against the wall. ‘Okay.’

‘I’m ready, Daddy,’ Yev said pointedly.

 _Jesus_. Mickey rolled his eyes. ‘So there was this ginger haired dork –’

‘Prince,’ Yev corrected. ‘And you gotta start with once upon a time.’

‘Fine. Once upon a time, there was a ginger prince, who was a _huge_ dork, and his name was Ian,’ Mickey began. ‘Prince Ian had a bunch of brothers and sisters, and they were all kind of crazy, but they loved Prince Ian a lot. They didn’t really have much money, like their castle was falling to pieces, with bits of wood stickin’ out and shit, but they all loved each other, so it didn’t really matter, right?’

‘Right,’ Yev nodded in agreement.

‘A little while away, there was another prince who lived in a castle that was _really_ fucked, and it had a horrible smell, and in that castle, with the prince and his sister, there lived a huge dragon.’ Mickey cleared his throat, and wrinkled his nose at the memory of the smell that once exuded from everywhere in his house, and if he had been around long enough, oozed out of his very pores. ‘Prince Ian lived with a dragon, too, but that dragon only came around every now and then, and Prince Ian and his siblings could give it a special potion to make it fall asleep, so they could take it outta their castle. The other prince –’

‘What was his name?’ Yev interrupted. ‘And his sister?’

‘The other prince?’

‘Yup.’

‘The other prince was called Mickey, and his sister’s name was Mandy.’

‘Okay,’ Yev nodded, signalling Mickey could continue.

‘So Prince Mickey and Princess Mandy heard about this special potion, so they gave it to the dragon that lived in their castle and hoped it would fuck off or die or something, but it only made the dragon angry, and sometimes he would hurt the prince or princess, or breathe fire at the walls of the castle, making it even _more_ fucked up,’ Mickey paused and bit his lip. ‘But uh, one day, the prince went to the village joker for some food – because he fuckin’ sold all the damn food as well, right? – so Mickey went to go get some food, and while he was there, he stole a magic sword from the joker, because he was a fuckin’ idiot. The joker, not the prince.’

‘So the prince was brave by stealing the magic sword?’

‘Kinda stupid, but yeah, of course. Prince Ian worked with the joker though, and he knew that the sword didn’t belong to Prince Mickey, so Ian went to get the magic sword back from him, and when he did, they…’

‘Did they become friends?’

 _Phew_. ‘Yeah, very good friends. Anyway, Prince Ian got the magic sword back and took it to the joker, even though he didn’t have the power to use it, and one day, Prince Ian and Prince Mickey were… playing games in the joker’s shop, and _he_ didn’t like that, because the joker loved Prince Ian, so he hit Prince Mickey with the sword, and Prince Mickey ended up going to the fuckin’ dungeons.’

‘Was it scary?’ Yev asked, clutching his shark and covering part of his face with it. ‘Were there dragons?’

‘It was full of dragons,’ Mickey nodded. ‘So Prince Mickey was hanging out in the dungeons for a while, and Prince Ian was off playing games with other people, and getting _really_ hot. Really worked on his abs.’

‘Daddy, when did Prince Mickey and Prince Ian start playing games together again?’ Yev said, steering the story, and Mickey’s train of thought, away from Ian’s abs.

‘Uh, once Prince Mickey got outta the dungeons. He found Prince Ian playing games with someone, then _they_ started playing games together again.’

‘That sounds nice.’

‘It was really fuckin’ nice,’ Mickey nodded. ‘But then one day, Prince Ian and his brothers and sisters got told they had to leave their castle, and Prince Mickey told Ian that he could stay at his castle, because the dragon that lived there wasn’t gonna be there, and the castle Prince Ian was staying in wasn’t safe.’

‘What happened then?’

Mickey moved his gaze from his son to his hands, and brought one up to the scar on his temple from where he had been pistol whipped all those years ago. ‘Prince Ian and Prince Mickey had just started playing a game,’ Mickey said quietly. ‘And the dragon came back to the castle.’

‘What did he do?’

‘The dragon didn’t like that the princes were playing games together,’ Mickey replied. ‘He said that only princes and princesses should play games together. Then he got out a magic sword, and told them that he would hit them with it.’

‘Dragons can’t hold swords, Daddy,’ Yev pointed out.

‘This one had really tiny hands,’ Mickey said dismissively. ‘The dragon called a princess over to his castle, and said that Prince Mickey had to play a game with her, otherwise Prince Ian would get hit with the sword.’

‘Did he play the game with her?’

‘Yeah,’ Mickey nodded. ‘He did. Prince Mickey loved Prince Ian, right? He didn’t really know it, but he knew that he would do anything to protect Prince Ian –’

‘And that’s love, right?’ Yev asked.

‘Yeah, that’s love,’ Mickey said, giving Yev a small smile. ‘It really hurt Prince Ian, though. Especially when Prince Mickey and the princess – not his sister, the other one – had to get married. So Prince Ian decided he wanted to go and join the knights to fight other dragons, so he left, and Prince Mickey…’

‘Was he sad?’

‘He was really fuckin’ sad, kid. He had never been so sad in his life.’

‘Did he cry?’

Mickey nodded. ‘Prince Mickey cried.’

Yev bit his lip and let out a tiny sigh. ‘I’m sorry you were sad, Daddy. I’m sorry you cried.’

‘Not your fault, kid,’ Mickey said hoarsely. ‘But it’s okay, because Prince Mickey heard from one of Prince Ian’s brothers that he was back in the realm. He joined the circus, pretty much, so Prince Mickey went and saved him. When he got to the circus, Prince Ian had taken a lot of different potions, and he was really sick.’

‘He got better, right?’

‘Yeah, he got better. Not for a while after that, but eventually. After this story ends.’

‘Okay, that’s good.’

Mickey nodded and cleared his throat. ‘So Prince Mickey’s wife, the other princess, she was having a baby, right? And Prince Mickey and Prince Ian went to the party after it was born. It wasn’t that great, because Prince Ian was sad that Prince Mickey couldn’t say he loved him and wanted to live happily ever after together.’ Mickey sat forward and rubbed idly at his ribs. ‘And then, the dragon turned up. Prince Ian said that if Prince Mickey couldn’t stand up to the dragon, like he never had in his entire life, then he would go, and that scared the shit outta Prince Mickey, and scared something _into_ him.’

‘Did he fight the dragon?’ Yev asked quietly, peeking up at Mickey from behind his shark.

‘He did,’ Mickey nodded. ‘Prince Mickey knew he either fought the dragon, or he lost Prince Ian, so really, it wasn’t even an option. Prince Mickey started fighting the dragon, then Prince Ian came and helped him, and they won.’

‘What happened to the dragon?’

‘Not important, kid. The point is, Prince Ian fought dragons and saved the prince,’ Mickey shrugged and stood up as his story came to its conclusion. ‘Prince Ian and Prince Mickey love each other, and hopefully, they’ll live happily ever after.’

‘What happened to the princesses?’

‘Princess Mandy got together with Prince Ian’s asshole brother, and the other princess found her prince, too. Princess, actually.’

‘Like Mama and Nika?’

‘Exactly.’

Yev smiled triumphantly. ‘I liked that story.’

‘I fuckin’ hated it. I only like the ending,’ Mickey muttered. He checked Yev’s sheets were tucked in again, and bent down to kiss his forehead. ‘You good now? Gonna go to sleep?’

Yev nodded. ‘I’m gonna go to sleep.’

‘Okay. Night, kid.’

‘Night, Daddy,’ Yev said with a yawn. ‘Night, Daddy Ian.’

‘Night, Yev,’ Ian’s voice came from the doorway.

Mickey spun around to see the other man leaning in the doorway. ‘Hey?’

‘Hi,’ Ian smiled. ‘Gonna let him sleep, or..?’

‘Right,’ Mickey said, leaving the room and shutting the door gently behind himself. ‘Thought you were working,’ he murmured, accepting the embrace Ian offered.

‘Mm, was,’ Ian replied. ‘Got sent home early. There were too many people rostered on to work. A twenty four hour gym only needs so many people.’

‘What, one?’

‘About,’ Ian smiled. ‘How was your day, Prince Mickey?’

‘Tiring. Where the fuck do six year olds get so much energy from?’ Mickey asked, dropping onto their couch and tugging Ian down beside him. ‘How about you?’

‘Bitchy women complaining about how much weight they think they should be losing, because that’s what people on TV lose,’ Ian sunk down onto the couch and relaxed into the cushions. ‘It’s all a sham, anyway. No one loses twenty pounds a week.’

‘The horror,’ Mickey yawned.

‘The horror,’ Ian agreed. ‘Hey, why were you telling Yev a story?’

Mickey wasn’t even surprised Ian had heard the story. Surprisingly, Mickey wasn’t even embarrassed at having been caught out in the retelling of the rough, early stages of their relationship. ‘He said you tell him one every night before bed?’

Ian shook his head. ‘Not anymore. Only when he’s sick.’

‘Little shit,’ Mickey muttered.

‘Takes after you,’ Ian winked.

‘Dick.’

‘Nuh uh, I’m a _prince_. It’s treason to call me a dick.’

‘My ass, it is,’ Mickey rolled his eyes. ‘You wanna just go to bed? I’m beat, man.’

‘Yeah, okay. I’ll take a quick shower then be right in.’

‘Don’t have to. I like how you smell,’ Mickey said, getting up off the couch. ‘Just come to bed? You’re not working tomorrow. Have one in the morning.’

Ian yawned as he stood beside Mickey. ‘Okay.’

Mickey nodded and started to walk to the bathroom to brush his teeth, but Ian caught his hand and pulled him back. He wrapped his arms around Mickey and kissed his hair, as Mickey sighed and wound his arms around Ian’s waist.

‘Sorry we had to fight so many dragons, Mick,’ Ian mumbled. ‘Both real and imaginary.’

Mickey shrugged. ‘Nothin’ we can do about our dragons apart from deal with ‘em.’

‘Mm. Two heads are better than one for dealing with dragons.’

‘Twice as many hands to slay them with.’

‘Yeah. At least we got our princes in the end, right?’ Ian said.

‘Dunno about you, but I think the dragons were worth it for the prince.’

‘Absolutely. I’d slay a hundred more dragons for my prince.’

‘Nah, I’d slay… maybe eighty,’ Mickey said, a teasing glint in his eye.

‘Wow, what a romantic,’ Ian laughed quietly. ‘Bed?’

‘Bed,’ Mickey agreed, pulling him towards their room.

They stripped down to their boxers, and climbed into bed, automatically gravitating towards the centre to face each other.

‘Night, Prince Mickey,’ Ian said, putting an arm over Mickey’s waist. ‘Love you.’

Mickey waited until he was sure Ian was asleep, before he murmured, ‘Love you too, Prince Ian.’

**Author's Note:**

> idk idk idk im sorry it was horrible omg (i TRIED) (and i FAILED) (it's 2AM and i don't KNOW what i'm DOING)


End file.
